takigan

Clarinet - Eric Chi (Houston area Clarinet teacher) Etude 1 - Etude 2 -

Flute - Dr. Krista Jobson - Professor of Flute (UT Rio Grande Valley) Etudes: Alto Sax - James Barger - Professor of Saxophone (West Texas A&M) Etude 1 - Etude 2 - Etude 3 - Dallas-area Saxophone lesson teacher Scott Campbell also has a video series on his Youtube channel where he breaks down the etudes in great detail at slower tempos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCedjfMN5fvjkUe-tBOXUNmw Tenor/Bari Sax - None so far, though keep an eye on Scott Campbell's page. He released a recording of the Tenor Jazz etudes, and only just recently released Alto videos of the Concert Band etudes. He'll probably get to them eventually.

Etude Recordings (most instruments....feel free to post others that you've liked that might be better than these....or even post a recording of yourself for critique ) Oboe - Melissa Bosma - Professor of Oboe (Okla. State Univ.) Etudes: Bassoon - Dr. Kelly Hancock - Professor of Bassoon (Okla. State Univ.) Etude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhk-jTPKIGQ (other etudes will likely be posted later)

So, it only takes a quick look on the forums (or a full Saturday following along with our Live Blog) to see that marching band competitions are a big deal in Texas in the Fall. But also around this time of year, many students begin their own individual journeys to becoming a member of the elite All-Region and hopefully even the TMEA All-State Bands and Orchestras. Nearly 29,000 band students statewide compete in 5A/6A alone for one of 548 spots in these elite groups. Winning the honor means college scholarships, discounts on summer band camps, bragging rights as someone who is in the 98th-99th percentile of Texas HS musicians, performing in a spectacular concert in front of nearly 3,000 concert goers at the TMEA convention in February, and, not to mention....a big ol' patch for the letterman jacket the size of a tea saucer Making Texas All-State is a borderline-Olympian feat (makes sense when you consider Texas won the most gold medals of any state this past Olympics). This means putting an absolutely incredible amount of time and effort into preparing the etudes (I put in nearly 100 hours of practice time on them myself from July to December back in my day and I didn't even make it past the first round.). Studying with a private teacher and attending masterclasses is essential as is listening to various recordings. The etudes are your masterpiece sculptures for most of the Fall semester that you must slowly chisel away at and polish to grandiose perfection. But don't forget to practice other things to enhance your skills. To those who are making the journey this Fall, I wish you the best of luck.....work hard, realize your greatest potential and relish the experience of applying your greatest efforts to become the best of the best...Which is what we Texans are .

Part 3 is where it's at in this show.

I love you. Erutan is one of my favorite Youtube artists...I've been subscribed to her since she went by KatetheGreat19 back in like, 2008.

- Birdville, Haltom, Fossil Ridge (Keller) and Richland at the St. Louis (MO) Regional - Sherman HS at the Atlanta (GA) Regional. Poor Sherman...usually there's a few TX bands that head out to Atlanta, but this year they're by themselves. - Bel Aire HS (El Paso) at the Utah Regional. - Del Valle HS (El Paso) & Ysleta HS (El Paso area) at the Long Beach (CA) Regional - No Montwood, Americas or Coronado this year....probably because it's a state year (travel costs in that neck of the woods etc.). - Cedar Park, Johnson, Bowie, Leander, Reagan, Whitesboro @ GN - Aside from the usual hype, Whitesboro's journey in Class 1A should be interesting as they were UIL 3A state champs this past season, and have been class champs at BOA San Antonio in the past. It'd be cool to see Whitesboro make it into the 'Class Circle' and advance to Semis with everyone else. There are some very strong groups in 1A from other states at Nats though....the spread from 4A to 1A isn't as large as it is in Texas. Adair County HS (the 1A class champion) still beat 5 2A & 3A bands last year in semis....all bands that advanced without the class rule, taking 27th overall.

Merged topics. Pointless to have 2 of them...especially in different forums during the post-season.

Leander Avg. Household Income - $75,195 Avg. Home Value - $162,272 % of Leander HS students getting free/reduced lunch - 30.1% LD Bell Avg. Household Income - $51,946 Avg. Home Value in Hurst - $137,000 % of LD Bell HS students getting free/reduced lunch - 39.6% LD Bell is a poorer community than Leander. That's not the point though. Even if Leander had a $995 band fee, they still couldn't go to nats with it because their GN trip alone costs $1300. A band fee is just something that covers the costs for that school year....and if you've got a huge trip planned, than the costs of it are added to that band fee. So if Leander's far share is $600 (or wtv) and their trip is $1300, then their dues for that year are effectively $1900.

I've been wanting to point this out, and since it's sort of on topic I might as well post it here: I've noticed in just the past couple years that a lot of bands have delegated their prop/staging package to the guard shield array at the front sideline. More and more bands are using the guard shield setup for its dual utility; hide the guards' flags and costuming,, but also decorate the same shields to add a visual flavor to the show theme. It's been done for a long time.....but much like electronics, I've noticed it's started to become standard technique.

I really do hope you're right and that Leander's new direction turns into a definitive style for them. Loved these past 2 years of shows. Also agreed on Cedar Park. Their shows stress minimal fluff and highly quality music. Marcus uses a similar music approach but with the one of the most in-depth staging packages in the country. They even use architects armed with AutoCAD to design their props. The Woodlands often have this interesting fusion approach going on where they fuse a modern pop element with classical music. They did this with 2006's Hide and Seek (which took 1st in GN Semis), as well as their Uninvited and Radiohead shows.

Cy-Falls went to BOA Atlanta this year. That was a 4 day trip for them. Cy-Falls wrote a check for $66,000 for buses to Atlanta. They have 337 kids in band. Assuming they all went, that's $195 per member. Putting 4 kids in a hotel room is $30-$60 per kid per night. For 3 nights we'll say $150 per member? We'll say 6 provided meals? $10 per meal? ($60). Eh, let's round it up to $100 per member. How many staff and chaps? 40? We'll say 30 extra rooms @ $150/night ($4500) X 3 nights = $13,500. Add 6 meals each (40 X 6 X $10 meal = $2500). Total: $16,500 / 337 members = $49/member. Total cost before flight (they didn't fly): $494/member. It should also be said that LD Bell drove to BOA Atlanta as well. Their trip wasn't a separate payment, but was included in their $995 band fee. This band fee is roughly the same band fee they've used for their trips to Nationals (their fee covers that as well on the years that they go). As far as I know Bell doesn't use a travel agent for the trip...I think they have a parent whose a travel agent (or had one in the past, and the boosters started a committee or something that trains the next generation of planners, I dunno). They've certainly made the trip enough times and have a large enough booster org to have it streamlined by now to where they probably don't need one.

http://leanderband.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Leander-HS-Band-Indianapolis-2016.pdf Looked it up. Indeed it's true. Though that's a ridiculous price. I could fly to Indy myself, stay in a single occupancy suite for 3 nights, get continental breakfast plus pay for 6 meals and end up paying about $900-$950 (Round trip flight - $350-400, 3 nights - $450, food - $50). For that same arrangement (Flight + 3 nights single occupancy), your travel agency charges almost $2,000/head. Part of it is the length of time y'all are staying combined with the flight. Y'all are getting charterbussed around for 5 days. I could fly up Friday, stay the night Friday night, and fly back after retreat and only be out about $600 tops (probably closer to $450 depending on when I booked and where I stayed). I still think that company is bending y'all. Keller drove up Wednesday night, is staying Thursday night and Friday night, then driving back after retreat. They used the same travel agency and are paying $825/head plus $615 per chaperone. This still seems crazy because a hotel room split 4 ways should only be about $30-40/person per night. How much does a charterbus cost? http://media.wix.com/ugd/2ec621_89f370aa6deb49c0a2a512d8d2175625.pdf

The trip itself should only cost about $400-$600/head depending on how many days they stay, flying or driving, and how much of the trip is funded by sponsors or the school. $1300 is likely a full season fee (camp costs, show design costs, instructional costs, + all competition travel including Nats), not the cost of Nats itself.

This year was weird though. Round Rock's destiny was sealed in the eyes of much of the band community once their penalty cost them the gold in Austin......but Round Rock technically was the strongest band at Austin, and also right behind FloMo, Hebron and Marcus at Arlington. Despite all that, them getting 10th at SA doesn't surprise me any more than if they had won the whole thing. The placement of the Conroe finalists were hard to transfer to San Antonio based on the fact that CTJ didn't score as well as expected at McAllen and the Woodlands only performed in prelims. Even if Flower Mound were going instead of one of the other bands, it doesn't change how I think the Texas bands would fare against BA, Avon & Carmel.

I'd like to believe that. But both Avon and Broken Arrow boasted a considerable lead over some very strong GN-tier bands at the St. Louis and Indy Super Regionals (Broken Arrow was 4 points ahead of Union, OK, which I'd say is a comparable band to maybe Bowie or Cedar Park). I have Hebron and the Woodlands in 3rd and 4th ahead of Carmel....but even they could prove to be problematic. Round Rock will be somewhere in the middle of finals and I think Keller will slip in to 11th or 12th (with Central somewhere in the Semis block).

I saw them at BOA Austin. I have them in 8th for State...behind the LISD schools, Wakeland, Waxahachie and Centennial. They could very well top Centennial but I don't see them besting 'Hachie or powerhouse Wakeland.

I don't believe that is correct...Even if the school can label the 2 groups as separate organizations, UIL may allow this but it doesn't matter under Texas law. At the least, the drumline would likely have to practice their Lone Star show on Saturday if they're already commiting 8 hours to the band during the week to abide by TEA rules. But even then I don't think it matters. At some schools, the entire marching band meets during the same class period, at some schools the students who are in symphonic band might meet during 1st period, concert band during 2nd etc......some schools split it caption style where all Trumpets meet during 1st period, clarinets 2nd, drumline 3rd for example. The schools that learn a marching drumline show probably have a schedule like the latter....And a drumline can have a UIL marching show and a LoneStar marching show on their plate and still be just as competitive. Also keep in mind that UIL limits you to I think 5 1/2 hours of time spent on the show during the school day. If band is double blocked on a block schedule the drumline could use the excess to learn a separate program as well. Read this starting on page 13. It's more in-depth: https://www.uiltexas.org/files/tea-uil-side-by-side-15-16.pdf

Barbers Hill got last place at the 2013 SMBC. Forgive the masses for not thinking that such a band will be able to break into a Finals circle made up almost entirely of bands who've been medalists at some point this past decade.

Finals Music rankings: Tarpon 18.75 Churchill 18.55 Bell 18.50 Harrison 18.20 Dobyns-Bennett 17.85 Westwood 17.80 Walton 17.50 Cy-Falls 17.40 Clements 17.25 Fort Mill 17.05 Wando 17.05 Centerville 16.65 Narrowly missed stealing the music caption from the Eagle Bearer (Individual Judge only had Tarpon .1 ahead of Bell). Drat....

[Copy pasting the Atlanta results posted in the SA thread and putting them in the Atlanta thread:] Atlanta Results: 1) Tarpon Springs - 94.55 2) LD Bell - 90.90 3) Harrison - 88.85 4) Dobyns Bennett - 86.60 5) Fort Mill - 86.50 6) Cypress Falls - 85.55 7) Winston Churchill - 85.10 8) Walton - 84.10 9) Westwood - 84.00 10) Wando - 82.25 (Dang, that's pretty surprising based on how much I loved them at GN last year) 11) Clements - 81.90 12) Centerville - 80.55 Music - Tarpon Springs Visual - Tarpon Springs GE - Tarpon Springs

Locking. All state-related posts go here: http://www.txbands.com/forums/index.php?/topic/6550-uil-texas-5a-state-marching-contest-predictions/

Area E* http://www.txbands.com/forums/index.php?/topic/6612-uil-5a-area-e/

Results (for archival purposes since UIL probably won't leave them up forever). Katy Tompkins and Ridge Point advance. Two very young schools. Ridge Point (Fort Bend) graduated its first senior class in 2013. Tompkins (which split from Seven Lakes just 2 years ago) graduates their first senior class this upcoming spring. 2015-16 Area_E_5A_Prelims.pdf

It feels really weird putting the Woodlands in 8th after they won the Eagle in '13, made top 5 @ San Antonio last year, and took 3rd in prelims at Conroe this year behind the SA champ from last year (CTJ) and a rising Reagan which managed to best CTJ in Finals.....but that's where I ended up having to put them. For all intents and purposes, TWHS's prelims performance at Conroe would slate them for the bronze medal at San Antonio when you consider who they lost to.....but the fact that Round Rock had the highest Finals pre-penalty score at Austin (ahead of Leander, who got 3rd at San Antonio last year--ahead of TWHS...even though Leander is actually a stronger band THIS year) only to go on to Arlington and place 4th behind their crew of Hebron, Marcus and a breakout Flower Mound....unless TWHS is stronger this year that's about where you have to put them. But the real kicker is TWHS could totally WIN it all and it wouldn't surprise me in the least bit! And that goes for pretty much every single band in this insane Top 10. The top 3 from BOA Austin, Arlington and Conroe will all be there (not to mention every single finalist from both Arlington and the ridiculously close Austin regional)...plus Owasso (missed GN Finals by 1 last year) to spice things up even further. I have Wakeland in 13th.....and they got 15th at Nats last year! ...Insane. And with FloMo, Leander, Hebron and Reagan having some of the most engaging shows in many years, this is going to be a very exciting Finals to watch! I'm looking forward to it. All this, and LD Bell won't even be there....